Review: Soliloquium - Soulsearching (2022)
Soliloquium is progressive/melodic death doom metal band that formed in 2011 at Stockholm, Sweden. I found them while I was looking for some progressive death doom metal albums on Bandcamp, their previous album Things We Leave Behind (2020) was amazing, and I quite enjoyed what they had to offer on that album, it made me curious to hear more material from this band. This year my curiosity was cured because they released a new album is called Soulsearching through Naturmacht Productions on February 25th, 2022. Well, let's see together what they have to offer in this new album.
The album begins with Floodgates, a song that opens with an epic intro and then overflows with sweet melodies that are beautifully composed, before howls of terrible vocals mingle with some clean vocals arrive to deliver a fright. The structure of the music really evokes angry emotions that will explode as over time in this song, then Stillwater came with a more pleasant composition that was born from solid vocals, catchy guitar riffs, thunderous bass, and very intense drums. Meanwhile, the epic and sweet melody continues to spoil us with its softness of rhythm that continues to echo filling all layers of sound. Moving on to the next track The Silent Epidemic, they opened it with clean vocals that were very comfortable and then greeted with a scary growl that immediately changed the atmosphere to be more dramatic. This song showcasing more melancholic atmosphere that is so touching and evokes the deepest emotions through its slashing guitar solos, poignant cello part, and bleak backing vocal accompaniment, then Missing Pieces, a track that features a superb clean vocals with a romantic melodic accompaniment gives us a serenity and became the perfect connector to Diaspora, a song that shows the softness of its clean vocals and its serene melody that makes the song accessible and allows the band to provide a chance for us to take a breath before Finality comes with a dark and heavy composition, which reveals their aggressive side again. A series of fast guitar riffs and dense drumming assaults us ruthlessly, along with terrifying vocals that incessantly spread a fear. The album closes with the title-track Soulsearching, this is the longest track and a summary of what they have to offer on this album. This song features an epic progressive and melodic elements along with crunchy guitar riffs, great vocal collaborations, excellent bass performances, and powerful drums. While, the romantic and melancholic guitar solos arrive to provide a beautiful melodies that will spoil us until the end and bring a perfect climax.
Soulsearching is an album that is more mature in terms of songwriting, they present more of a romantic and melancholic feel that doesn't lose its aggressive side. This album is a perfect combination of melodic death doom metal and progressive metal that builds on a series of catchy guitar riffs, a perfect combination of screams, growls, and clean vocals, excellent bass performances, blaring drums, and hypnotic guitar solos that indulge us with the beauty of its melodies. The production is very clean which makes this album more accessible and digestible. Yeah, I think this is a more interesting album than their previous releases. Really recommeded.